Page 81 of Under Your Spell

‘Yeah,’ Lil chimes in. ‘You’re always supposed to tell us these things first. You know we’d have your back. We’re your people.’

‘I know,’ I sigh. ‘I—’

This is the moment Theo chooses to enter the room, and my sisters spin on him as one furious, intimidating entity, like something out of Greek mythology with two heads and one dark agenda.

‘Theodore,’ Serena snaps, pure ice.

‘Hey, S. Hey, Lil,’ Theo greets them easily.

‘Don’t hey us.’ Lil’s eyes narrow. ‘We’re only going to say this once.’

‘Say what?’ Theo glances at me, clearly confused.

This is a feeling I share, but that doesn’t last long when Serena steps right up into his personal space, pokes one polished, blood-red nail into his chest. ‘If you hurt our sister, in any way at all, if you cause her to feel the least bit of upset, a tiny quiver of discomfort, you will find yourself with only fond memories of your manhood.’

‘Serena!’ I squeak, mortified.

‘No, Clemmie,’ Lil says, her voice softly menacing. ‘You’ve been hurt too many times. We should have done this in the first place.’ Then she looks Theo dead in the eye and slowly draws one finger across her throat, her face a terrifying, emotionless mask.

‘Fuck, Lil!’ I exclaim. ‘That is the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. What is the matter with you? You two seriously need to calm down.’ I turn to Theo. ‘I did not ask them to do this. I don’t even know what this is, except an effort to horribly embarrass me.’

‘Imagine, your sisters embarrassing you in front of your new… whatever the fuck Theo is.’ Serena’s smile is like a knife. ‘Not so fun when the shoe is on the other foot, is it?’

‘That was totally different,’ I mutter. ‘And as far as I remember we didn’t threaten to maim your new girlfriend.’

The horrifying expression drops from Lil’s face in an instant and she is all smiles again. ‘That’s the look I gave Sophie Ritter before our under 16’s championship tennis final and she definitely peed her pants a bit.’

Theo doesn’t look worried, only amused, and he says, calmly, ‘I would never do anything to hurt Clemmie. Never. She’s the most important person in the world to me.’

‘Awwwwww.’ Lil clasps her hands together, caving immediately.

‘We’ll see’ is Serena’s answer, backed up by another daggering glare. ‘Anyway,’ – she turns back to me – ‘we brought all the stuff you asked for.’

‘Thank you.’ I slump in relief, accepting the fancy Louis Vuitton luggage that certainly doesn’t belong to me.

‘You can’t turn up with your stuff in a carrier bag,’ Serena sighs, taking in my expression. ‘This thing is at a very swish hotel, Clemmie.’

‘A nice bookshop tote is not a carrier bag,’ I argue. ‘More importantly, did you pack plenty of options?’

‘I did,’ Lil chimes in.

‘Thank you. Theo has been very unhelpful about what the vibe is.’

Theo shrugs. ‘I don’t know what to say. I’m wearing a suit. Lisa’s wearing a big white dress. What other information am I supposed to have? I already told you what I thought you should wear.’

‘I am not meeting your family at your sister’s wedding in a gold sequin mini dress that barely covers my crotch.’

Theo’s eyes flicker as they skate across my face and down my body. ‘You looked so hot in that dress, and I wasn’t allowed to appreciate it at the time.’

Our gazes clash and I feel my pulse tick up, heat pooling in my belly.

‘I’m going to throw up,’ Serena says flatly.

‘Sex mist,’ Lil whispers, eyes wide again.

‘Just relax,’ Theo says, reaching up to rub my back soothingly. ‘Whatever you wear will be fine. You’ll look beautiful.’

Serena snorts. ‘Telling Clemmie to relax, that’s a good one.’ She smirks at me. ‘Remember when Lil tried to get you to meditate?’